The Montara platform operator, PTTEP, claims it knows what caused the August 21 blowout that lead to this massive oil spill, but is withholding that information from the public. Meanwhile a whistleblower has come forward into the information vacuum to claim that the drillers had been taking shortcuts:

Thai-based PTTEP said last week it knew the cause of the spill but would not disclose it, but the industry insider said schedule and cost were put ahead of safety and the environment…

He said he believed six wells were being drilled that morning and the third of those was being drilled when the first well blew…

“This in my opinion was because they were trying to save time so they drilled to a certain depth and did not plug it securely because they did not expect flow.

I’m not sure how much credibility to give this. A rig can only drill one well at a time, and these wells were going beyond 8,000 feet. It takes days to drill to that depth. So the information that “six wells were being drilled that morning” is suspect.

Nevertheless, something certainly did go wrong on August 21, and the Australian government launched an investigation to discover the cause and evaluate possible weaknesses in their oversight of drilling, spill response capabilities, decisionmaking. Here in the U.S., where we’re on the verge of allowing new drilling in areas where it’s been off-limits for decades (such as Florida, the Carolinas, Virginia and parts of Alaska), folks are impatiently awaiting definitive word on what caused the Montara blowout. Some have suggested “it could never happen here.” Until we know the actual cause, we can’t draw any firm conclusions.

But one thing is certain: a spill like this is extremely expensive. The $250M West Atlas drill rig has been destroyed. Replacing the damaged topsides of the Montara oil platform will cost at least $16M. PTTEP estimates the costs of the lost well and their response actions to approach $170M. Australian taxpayers have spent more than $5M for spill response activities so far, which ultimately may be repaid by PTTEP. What’s unknown at this time are the economic losses that could be suffered by Western Australia’s $8M fishing industry, and the potential for long-term damage to the environment. NGOs also claim significant damage in Indonesia, with reports of bankruptcy among the fishermen of Timor.

Peter Garrett, Australia’s Environment Minister, is being criticized for defending what some characterize as a tepid government reponse to this major oil spill. A little irony here: Peter was lead singer for the group Midnight Oil (no joke). In the mid-80s he rocked my world with Power and the Passion. I jumped all over the room like a spaz whenever I heard that tune. I still do, only slower. More irony: in 1991 Midnight Oil played an illegal concert outside Exxon headquarters in New York to protest the Exxon Valdez spill. Check out the video.

One day in the mid-1980s, Peter flashed me the peace sign when I called out his name as he strode down M Street in Georgetown before a show in DC. I was a newbie geologist and he was a famous and idealistic singer. I wonder if he remembers the lyrics he wrote back in the day:

Sometimes you’ve got to take the hardest line.

See all of SkyTruth’s photos, maps and satellite images of the Montara spill. Read all our blog posts on this subject.

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PTTEP Australasia is reporting that their fifth attempt to kill the leaking well on the Montara platform has succeeded, shutting off the uncontrolled flow of oil, gas, and natural gas condensate that has been polluting the water and air off Western Australia since the blowout occurred on August 21. The fire that ignited over the weekend, engulfing the Montara platform and the attached West Atlas drill rig, has also been nearly extinguished.

Heavy mud was pumped into the damaged well at a point 8,600 feet below the seabed, where it was intercepted by a relief well drilled from the West Triton jackup rig. Towed in from Singapore, the West Triton did not arrive on scene until September 10, nearly three weeks after the blowout occurred. It took nearly four more weeks to set up the rig, drill down to the intercept depth, and make the first unsuccessful attempt to intercept the damaged well. Finally, after 74 days, the spill has been stopped. Difficult tasks ahead: now workers must try to re-enter the well from the fire-damaged Montara platform so they can inject permanent cement plugs. As a PTTEP official notes:

We do not underestimate the significantly increased technical complexity, logistical challenges and hazards of the work now required in the wake of the damage caused by the fire to the wellhead platform and the West Atlas rig.

Estimates of the amount of oil spilled vary widely. PTTEP’s unexplained estimate of 400 barrels per day yields a total of 1,243,200 gallons. The Australian government’s estimate of “up to” 2,000 barrels per day means a total spill of as much as 6, 216,000 gallons. And an estimate of 3,000 barrels per day based on the known flow rates of other wells in the area results in a spill of 9,324,000 gallons, almost as large as the 11 million gallon Exxon Valdez spill that, 20 years after a massive cleanup operation, is still affecting Alaskan communities and the environment.

Thankfully nobody was injured. The cause of the blaze is not known. Oil, gas, and natural gas condensate have been spewing from an uncontrolled well on the platform since August 21 (73 days ago).

The 100-mile-long smoke plume from this fire is visible from space, on MODIS Aqua and Terra images taken on November 2. And residual patches of oil and sheen from the ongoing spill have approached within 27 miles of islands along the Australian coast:

MODIS / Aqua image taken on November 2, 2009. See more SkyTruth images here.

This will certainly complicate the effort to gain control of the leaking well. And if the fire destroys the Montara platform and the attached West Atlas drilling rig, as some observers are now suggesting, then we may never learn exactly what happened to cause this blowout in the first place. On the plus side (trying hard to be optimistic here), if the fire is burning off most of the leaking hydrocarbons, then the area of ocean impacted by oil slicks and dispersants should greatly diminish.

Working from the nearby West Triton relief rig that drilled the intercept well, heavy drilling mud will be pumped into the damaged Montara well until the flow of hydrocarbons is shut off. That should promptly extinguish the fire.

World Wildlife Fund just released a report on their research cruise to the spill-affected area, where they observed slicks and impacted wildlife. See their photos and video for an up-close look, and get the full report here. (Photo #4 shows researchers studying a SkyTruth image of this spill.) The Australian government has also released a report on the research and wildlife surveys they’ve conducted so far in the area.

Common Noddy recovered from the Montara oil spill by researchers working for the Australian government. Photo taken from their report.

Here’s a visual of those emissions: we processed a MODIS satellite image of the Montara area that was taken on October 27. The well is still actively spewing oil, but the sunglint conditions on this image are not favorable so the slicks aren’t visible. But a pale plume is emanating from the platform location and spreading out as it blows toward the Australian coast to the southeast. This is probably an aerial plume of hydrocarbon smog caused by the natural gas and vaporized natural gas condensate that are also blowing out of the damaged well. Usually those airborne emissions are invisible, but atmospheric conditions must have been right to form a visible smog:

The ongoing Montara / West Atlas oil spill in the Timor Sea off Western Australia is now in its 62nd day. So far, three attempts to intercept and plug the leaking well have failed. Another attempt should happen today. A MODIS / Terra satellite image taken on October 21 – exactly two months after the blowout and spill began – shows slicks and sheen covering 2,600 square miles and approaching within 35 miles of the Kimberley coast. Satellite images show that oil has been moving to the south-southeast from the Montara platform, toward Australia, for the past few days:

A Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism official told Greens senator Rachel Siewert on Wednesday: “The maximum leakage rate from that well could be as much as 2000 barrels of oil a day, with condensate as well.”

Senator Siewert acknowledged that did not mean 2000 barrels were actually coming out, rather that it was the maximum amount possible if the well were operating at full capacity.

At the 2,000 barrel per day rate, over 5 million gallons would have been spilled so far. That’s getting into Exxon Valdez territory.

Could this happen in the US? We can’t say until we get more details about what caused this blowout. But it’s worth noting than in the US Gulf of Mexico, blowouts are not rare occurrences: the US Minerals Management Service has investigated 18 blowouts and 13 “loss of well control” incidents since 1983, several involving fires and fatalities. In 1992, the Greenhill Petroleum blowout and fire sent 70,000-120,000 gallons of oil into Timbalier Bay, Louisiana. Blowouts happened twice in 2007, and the most recent loss of well control was in 2008. And many more, less-serious, incidents can be found here.

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